2/4/2026

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Good morning and welcome everyone. Andreas and I are proud to report strong results for Q4 and for the full year 2025. So let us go straight to some of the performance highlights. The organic growth in the quarter was 3% and this was supported by 6% growth in technology and solutions. We had a good finish to the year in technology and solutions with 2% improvement sequentially. And the adjusted organic growth for the group, and that means when you exclude the close down of the SEIS business, was 4%. And now to something important. The operating margin was 8% and 8.2% adjusted in the quarter, thanks to strong delivery across the entire business. North America achieved a 10% operating margin in the quarter, and Europe delivered another quarter with more than 8%. And we have improved the operating margin now 20 quarters in a row and are delivering on the 8% target that we communicated three and a half years ago. EPS real change excluding ISC was also strong at 18%. And we had continued strong delivery in terms of cash flow with operating cash flow of 88% for the full year, and the net debt to EBITDA ratio improved further to 2.1. And based on the stronger underlying performance, the dividend proposal is Swedish kronor 5.30, which represents an 18% increase. And looking at the future, we announced a very important milestone for our journey with the acquisition of Life Raft yesterday evening, This is a leading provider of threat intelligence and I will provide more details regarding the strategic importance of Life Raft at the end of this presentation. So let us then shift to the performance in the business lines and the segments. We deliver strong margin development in both business lines with 12.7% for technology and solutions, 6.6% for services in the quarter. And the real sales growth as I stated in technology and solutions was 6%, so 2% improvement compared to the previous quarter. And the growth in security services was 1% and this growth is obviously negatively impacted by the SEIS business, where we're closing down the government part of that business. So with that, let's move to the segments. And we are starting, as always, with North America, where we're delivering a very strong set of results and a record 10% operating margin in the quarter. And if we start with a growth of 5%, this was driven by good portfolio development and price increases in the Guardian business. and by good development in technology. The real sales growth in technology and solutions improved to 4% compared to lower growth in the previous quarter. And we're looking at the profitability, strong leverage and cost control and guarding together with solid profitability in technology and a recovery in the Pinkton business all contributed to the record level operating margin. So all in all, very strong performance, record-breaking 10%. So well done by our North America team. And we then moved to Europe, where we are also very pleased with the development. The organic growth was 4% in the quarter and the growth was supported by price increases, including impact from the hyperinflationary environment in Turkey and also by solid growth of technology and solutions. while active portfolio management in the services business had a negative impact on the growth. Sales growth in technology and solutions was 7%. But it's the profitability development that stands out, with 110 basis point improvements to 8.1. And the margin improvement was driven by both business lines, including positive impact from the business optimization program. The security services business was positively impacted by high margin on new sales, active portfolio management, and also the divestiture of the airport security business in France. And we also recorded solid improvement in the operating model in the technology and solutions business line, driven by good portfolio development and solid cost control. And as commented earlier, we expect the work we're addressing low margin guarding contracts to be completed during the first half of 2026. So all in all, solid development by our European team and also here an operating margin at a record level. Shifting then to Ibero-America, where we are pleased to report good organic growth and decent margin improvement. The growth was 5% and this was driven by high single-lidded growth in technology and solutions and prices increases in the services business. But similar to Europe, there is a negative impact on the growth from active portfolio management, but we're making good progress here and driving good conversions to technology solutions. And the real sales growth in technology and solutions was 7% in the quarter. The operating margin improved 20 basis points in the quarter, and the improvement was primarily driven by positive impact from active portfolio management in the security services business line. So to conclude, strong delivery in 2025 by our Ibero America team. And looking then at the performance across the group, we are driving disciplined execution of our strategy, and I'm really pleased to see strong execution across all segments. And the client retention is solid at 90%. So with that, turn to the finance update and handing over to you, Andreas.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

Thank you, Magnus. And first of all, if I sound different to normal, it is because I'm about to lose my voice. I apologize for that. We start with the income statement where we had organic sales growth of 3% and improved the operating margin with 70 basis points to 8%. It is a strong quarter where we improved our operating income with 15% adjusted for currency. As we communicated in Q2, we have introduced two new KPIs which are adjusting our organic growth and our operating margin for the government business to be closed down within SEIS. In the quarter, the adjusted organic growth was 4% and the adjusted operating margin was 8.2%. Looking below operating results there are no material developments in amortization of acquisition related intangibles nor in the acquisition related costs. The items affecting comparability was 78 million and this was related to the ongoing European transformation and business optimization programs. And the full year cost for these programs was 382 million approximately in line with our previous guidance. We have executed the business optimization program in a good way where the annualized savings in Q4 are in line with the targeted 200 million savings. The business optimization program is now closed and in 2026 the only remaining program is related to the European transformation. And here we estimate to have a full year 2026 program cost of 225 to 250 million. A material reduction compared to the 382 million related to the programs in 2025. In Q3, we took a 1.5 billion cost in items affecting comparability related to the close down of the government business within SEIS. The close down is progressing according to plan and had limited impact on our operating result in Q4. We continue to expect the vast majority of the business to be closed down by the end of 2026 and we will also start to see an accelerated execution of the close down during the first half year. Our finance net came in at 383 million, a reduction of 146 million compared to last year, and here we continue to see a positive trend of reduced financing costs as interest rates and our debt levels are going down. For the full year 2026, we estimate the finance net to continue to reduce and land around 1.6 billion, to be compared to the 1.8 billion for the full year 2025. Moving to tax, here we had a tax rate of 29.5% for the full year, slightly higher than our Q3 forecast of 29.2%. The full year tax rate was impacted by the SEIS closed down cost in Q3, where we estimate around half of the cost to be tax deductible over time. Adjusted for the closed down impact, the full year tax rate was 27.2% and we expect the 2026 tax rate to be in the approximately same area. All in all, we have a strong quarter where we grow our FX adjusted EPS with 18% and as we summarized 2025, We have improved our adjusted operating margin with 60 basis points to 7.7%, grown our operating result with 11% and grown our EPS with 18%. And at the same time, we also achieved our financial target of an operating margin of 8% the second half year of 2025. The adjusted operating margin in the second half was 8.2%. We then moved to cash flow, where our operating cash flow was solid at 3.9 billion or 128% of operating income. The cash flow was supported by low growth rates and a continued improved DSO, but also negatively impacted by the additional 44 million US dollar payroll in our US guarding business as we communicated in the third quarter. This negative impact is a timing impact only, which occurs every fifth to sixth year. The free cash flow landed at 3 billion, supported then by the solid operating cash flow, reduced interest payments due to the lower interest rates and debt levels, and positive tax timing impacts. Looking at the full year 2025, we deliver another year of record cash flow. The operating cash flow was more than 10 billion, or 88% of the result, supported by good working capital focus and low growth rates. And we have now delivered operating cash flows above our financial targets of 70 to 80% over the last two years, a result of our strong focus to build a more qualitative business and also structurally improve our working capital over time. And this has of course also translated into stronger free cash flows, which creates increased flexibility and opportunity for us as we move into a new phase of our strategic journey. Our cash generation will also be positively impacted as our items affecting comparability continues to reduce as we go into 2026 and beyond. We then have a look at our net debt, which was 31.3 billion at the end of the quarter. This is a reduction of 2.1 billion compared to Q3, mainly supported by the strong free cash flow, but also by the strength in Swedish krona. In the quarter, we paid the second tranche of our dividend and we had 321 million of total IEC payments, whereof approximately 160 million was related to the final payment for the US government and Paragon settlement. We have now made all three payments related to this settlement and expect no further cash flow out related to the case. Looking at the right hand side, our net debt to EBITDA reduced to 2.1. This is an 0.4 times improvement compared to Q4 last year, where positive EBITDA development, good cash generation and the strength in Swedish krona have supported positively. And we are well below our target net debt to EBITDA of less than three times. Moving on to have a look at our financing and financial position. where we continue to have a strong balance sheet, remain with strong liquidity, and we have no financial covenants in our debt facilities. After a period of important refinancing focus, our main focus during the second half of 2025 has been to amortize debt supported by the strong free cash flow generation. In the quarter, we repaid 1.9 billion of debt, and throughout 2025, we have amortized a total of 3.3 billion. This continues to support our cost of financing going forward, and looking at the maturity chart, we have very limited refinancing needs throughout 2026. And as always, we remain committed to our investment grade rating. So with that, I hand over back to you, Magnus.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Many thanks, Andreas. So I'd like to share a few perspectives regarding our strategic development and the Life Raft acquisition before we open up the Q&A. First, we are proud over the fact that we are reaching our 8% target in the second half of 2025. Back in 2022, when we did the Stanley acquisition, we accelerated the work to change the profile of Securitas, create the company with the strongest technology and digital offering, to our clients in combination with high quality guarding services. And when looking back at the last four years, we have been executing well. We are a sharper, more focused company today and operating at a different margin level. And as we're entering 2026, this also means that we can then start to retire this bridge that we have kept coming back to every quarter and over the last three and a half years. But looking at the future, we're very excited about the acquisition of Life Raft. So when I look at the transformation of Securitas during the last six, seven years, we have kept a clear focus on investing in the core capabilities that we consider critical to winning in this industry. And those are focused on presence, technology and data. And in this context, we strengthen our guarding value proposition. We have improved the profitability of guarding. We have built a globally leading technology position and a more modern and digitally capable business. So we have strong pillars in our business today. But we have also worked to meet the increasing client demand for better understanding the risks and the threats facing their business. And over the past five years, we have developed in-house risk intelligence capabilities that we are providing to more and more customers. So all this is good, you might say, but what is then the importance of the Life Raft acquisition? Well, Life Raft is one of the leading SaaS-based threat intelligence providers focused on OSINT, and that's open source intelligence. This is a very strong team with deep expertise in threat intelligence, and they have been a partner and provider to Securitas for many years. And with Life Raft, we will be able to scale and leverage their capabilities across our client base and in the process strengthen our client value proposition. When looking at the financials, the company is currently prioritizing rapid expansion and growing organically around 30% on an annual basis, but also then reinvesting very strong growth margins to accelerate organic growth. And given the increase in demand in this market, I fully support this approach. And the acquisition is fully in line with our strategy to create a more scalable business model and becomes an important addition to accelerate growth in high margin recurring monthly revenue. And as previously stated, the recurring monthly revenue for the group exceeds more than 1 billion SEK. So we are thrilled to welcome the Life Raft team when we are closing the transaction, joining forces to shape the future with more intelligence-led security. And the future is promising. With the transformation of Securitas, we are well positioned with a clearly differentiated client offering, well positioned for profitable growth. And we are operating in an attractive market, but also a growing market where we see steady increase in the demand for quality security. We have transformed and repositioned our client portfolio with a clear focus on segments with more sophisticated security needs and higher growth profile. And we partner with our clients for the long term. And we see that our deeper engagement model, where we leverage our technology and digital capabilities, is generating higher value for our clients and also for us. And the approach is working. So like Andreas and I have commented, we're executing well in our plans, 20 consecutive quarters of operating margin improvement and solid cash flow generation. And we've had a clear focus on enhancing the quality of our business and margin improvement in recent years. But as more and more units reach the required profitability thresholds, so from my perspective, that means for a good sustainable business, they also gain the right to shift focus to profitable growth. And with the business now in much better shape, we can shift emphasis towards commercial synergies and driving growth. And as stated many times, we do this with a clear focus on building a more scalable business. So we are confident and excited about our longer-term opportunities and we are looking forward to sharing more in the Capital Markets Day in June. So in conclusion, we are on the right path, well positioned for the next phase. So with that, we conclude the Q4 presentation and happy to open up the Q&A.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Francesco Nardinocchi from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

speaker
Francesco Nardinocchi
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Hi, good morning. This is from Goldman Sachs actually. I just had a couple of questions, please. If we think about your growth and margin expectations for first half versus second half of this year, would it be fair to say that because of the impact of your underperforming contract exits that's going to be completed by first half this year, maybe the growth is a little more weighted to second half and similarly on margins? And I'm not sure I read, but how much are you expecting to pay for the acquisition of Life Raft? And how is your M&A pipeline looking at this point in time? Thank you.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Yeah, thank you. So when you're looking at that, I think it's the right assumption that finalizing that work will have a negative impact in the near term from the active portfolio management. But that's why it's also so important and so positive that we are soon done with that work. And as I commented in the last couple of years, we were more quick in North America in terms of finalising that work. So I think that is obviously something that we're looking forward to also in Europe. Then when I look at the growth in Q4, we had 6% growth in technology and solutions, and that's a clear improvement compared to the previous quarters. We have a strong offering. Solutions is more of a portfolio business. Technology part, there is also some variability with installations, but we feel that we are on a good path. So I think that is the other part that I would just highlight, because that part of the business, there is no impact from active portfolio management.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

We have not disclosed the purchase price related to LIFROST, simply due to commercial reasons that we are not doing that. But we have paid a fair market price for this type of business overall. And there will be some more details coming as we have closed the transaction as well. On the M&A pipeline side, as we've said, we are ramping up our focus on continued bolt-on acquisitions within technology and solutions and some targeted also acquisitions in the intelligence area. We made a few minor ones outside life raft, but we are still in ramp-up mode, I would say. So the pipeline is not, there is not a huge pipeline at this point in time, but it's something that we're working towards improving.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you very much. Morning, gentlemen.

speaker
Rémy
Analyst

First, a quick question on the 2026 outlook. I guess given you've achieved the 8% and the CMD is not before June, we are left a little bit in the dark in terms of margin development. So just trying to have your view on 2026 margin development if we exclude, I mean, excluding the the positive impact that the closure of SEIS is going to generate, but on an underlying basis with the portfolio of the company, do you believe that there is still potential for margin improvement from the current run rate at the end of 2025? So that would be the first question. The second one is on North America. The organic growth very suddenly accelerated in Q2 and it's been normalizing a little bit over the last two quarters. Just trying to understand the drivers of that sudden acceleration and what's happening since then, why it's coming back down. Is it about volume normalizing, lower pricing, and also taking a step back on that market? What do you think is the structural level of organic growth in North America? And then the last one, you've come to the end of that strategic plan in 2025. Have you started to have a think about the new KPI for management remuneration, variable remuneration, and going into the next phase of the company, what do you think would be most relevant in term of aligning the interest of shareholders with management?

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Very good. Thank you, Remy. So, we don't provide guidance, but first of all, I think it's been really important for all of us internally and also externally that we are delivering on the 8% because it represents a very significant shift. When you're looking at 2026, driving good growth in technology and solutions will have a positive impact on margin. You could also expect some positive impact from active portfolio management work that we still have some of that work yet to be done. Business Optimization Program, we've commented as well, we successfully completed that in 2025, should also help and support. So, generally speaking, we are, and I spelled that out, I think, back in 2022, is that 8% is important to achieve. We believe that now we have a really good opportunity to also be related to your third question, calibrate more precisely as well how we maximize the value creation because we've had very hard focus on improving the quality and the margin but it's quite obvious to us as well that we get done with some of the structural work and the heavy lifting and the cleaning we're largely done with that now and that also means that we can then also start to shift focus on more profitable growth going forward and I think that is something that is clearly on our minds, and it's also clearly something that we're also reflecting also in how we're calibrating some of the incentive programmes as well, so that we really gear those towards maximising value for our shareholders. So I think those are the key points. North America, maybe briefly on your side, Andreas.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

I can just follow up on the KPIs, because there is also a misunderstanding related to that up until now. We have both long-term incentive programs and we have short-term incentive programs. It's right, as you say, that operating margin has been a focus for the long-term incentive programs, but in the short-term incentive programs, which is a material part of total compensation, it is also about driving growth in the earnings as well.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

So I just want to highlight that, and then if you want to take the... That's an important point, because if you look also at the operating results growth, really solid double-digit levels in 2025 in constant currency. And we are here, obviously, to drive that type of change, but it's always got to be a balance as well. And we should also remember that operating margin improvement is also helping and accelerating also the the operating result growth. So I think that's an important clarification about the programs that we've had up until now. When you look at North America, we feel good about our position. We feel good about the market in general. And it's a little bit difficult to call out the specific growth numbers. This is something that in our industry, it is a little bit difficult to get a very clear understanding of how the total market is developing. But I would say that we are well positioned in terms of the segments where we are, and also segments where there is, generally speaking, a higher emphasis on the quality. Security is important, but there is also very healthy underlying growth. So I would say that we are well positioned, but it's difficult, Remy, to call out a very specific overall growth number. I believe with the offering that we have, we should be able to grow at least with the market and preferably above market rate. And that is very much based on the strength of the offering, but also that we are well positioned in terms of the segments that we serve.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Great. Thank you very much. The next question comes from Andy Grobler from BNPP. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning.

speaker
Andy Grobler
Analyst, BNP Paribas

Just a couple from me, if I may. Firstly, just in Q4, in terms of European growth, can you talk through the tailwinds from Turkey? and also the headwinds from portfolio management, so sort of to get to the underlying numbers there. And then definitely on a longer-term perspective, technology keeps evolving at pace, as we can see from the stock market. We just wondered what you're seeing in your end markets, and if at this stage there's any signs or you expect to see over time price deflation within your monitoring activities and the extent to which that is that's possible. That'd be really helpful. Thank you.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

Thank you. When it comes to the European growth rates in the fourth quarter, you can say more or less all the positive growth is coming from Turkey, in essence. That's the first statement. Turkey had an impact for sure. If you're then looking at where we have good volume growth, it was in technology and solutions in Europe, and then there was a negative impact that we have not quantified related to the APM that is impacting the security services portfolio. So I think those are the three pillars to bear in mind when looking at the European organic growth.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

And then, Andy, on the technology, I mean, what we call the technology business is essentially a business where we drive or we design, we install systems, and then we operate and serve those systems for our customers. So there's a couple of different components, but A big part of the value, I would say, when you look at the three main areas of activity, installation, service, maintenance, and also monitoring, is that that work is quite tightly connected. So when we are doing good integration and installation work, we're very well positioned to also provide the best type of service and maintenance. But more and more of what we are doing and what we're also interested in building is more the the recurring revenue. And they're obviously connected services. Those are usually not just simple kind of monitoring lines, for example. It's usually part of a broader value proposition. And there I believe that we are in a good position based on the great strengths that we have built. And we're also the deep integration of Stanley has really helped us because we have built genuinely good service capability and levels and also rich service offering to our clients as well. So I think that we are in good shape in that sense from a market perspective and also the offering that we bring.

speaker
Andy Grobler
Analyst, BNP Paribas

Okay, thank you. And then just lastly, Andreas, thank you for all your help over the years and best of luck with whatever the future may bring.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Thank you and likewise, Andrew. Thank you. Remember to say a special thank you to Andreas at the end of the call today as well. But I'm glad you commented, Andy. Andreas has been a great partner all along here.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from Alan Wells from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Good morning, Andreas. Good morning, Magnus.

speaker
Alan Wells
Analyst, Jefferies

A couple from me, please. Firstly, just following up from Remy's question on North America, obviously very mindful that active portfolio management has been a headwind to growth. And as that starts to end, you flagged in Europe in the first half, that should be a positive as you switch to that growth focus. But as Remy flagged, as we look at North America, the portfolio management has ended and growth has slowed sequentially from 2Q through to 4Q, the 5% we saw in 4Q. To what extent is that slowing in North America, you guys maybe holding back to focus on margin rather than kind of fully pushing the commercial engine in the business? And to what extent maybe is it just that it's a continued tough market that is still hard to drive growth in? That would be the first question. Secondly, just like a bit of an update on the technology side. Obviously, growth's improved sequentially. six percent in the quarter but it's still well below the eight to ten percent target so I'll be keen just to understand of that six percent how much is pricing how much is volume and how you think about the outlook towards that eight to ten percent and then third question just on free cash flow just in the full year obviously a positive outcome overall but there was a positive impact from working capital for the full year like I don't typically think of you guys as a positive networking capital business so So what extent is that networking capital number sustainable and how should we think about a potential unwind as we move through 2026 as well? Thank you.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Thank you, Alan. I think on the first question, we don't see any change in the trend in North America. I mean, some variation there will be between the different quarters. We are well positioned, like you highlighted. We're done with the active portfolio management. And it's obviously a dynamic market, but when you look at what we are winning and what we are losing, we feel good. So no major issue or anything specific to read into that from my perspective.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

When it comes to the technology and solutions growth, when we set the target of 8 to 10%, it's important to remember that was also including acquisitions. And there we have done limited, we've been focusing on integrating and then also taking down our balance sheet, although it's something that we are looking at ramping up. So in that context, 6% is a decent number. When you look into that 6%, on the technology side, it is definitely volumes mainly from that growth. If you're looking at the solution side, it's a combination of both volumes and price. So all in all, more volume than price when it comes to the 6%. And it's also a decent number, we should say. When it comes to free cash flow, a couple of lenses here. I mean, we said in the last capital markets day, there will be a mixed shift in the working capital with the technology and technology business coming in. But we also said clearly that we are working on structurally improving our working capital. And that's really what we have been doing over the last couple of years, which is which is giving a positive result. So we have definitely structurally improved on the working capital side. And we also showed that in the 88% cash flow this year, 84% last year. So it's also not just a temporary change. Then, as you all know, we have seasonality in our cash flow, where our Q4 cash flow is stronger. And now the number is coming in somewhat below Q4 last year, but still at a very strong level. So going into Q1, yeah, it will definitely be weaker from that standard seasonality that we're having. But the underlying trend, I think, is most important when it looks at the cash flow, given we have volatility. And there, I hope you all see that we have elevated the cash flow and we are now delivering above our financial targets two years in a row.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from Victor Lindeberg from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.

speaker
Victor Lindeberg
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Morning, thank you for taking my questions too initially, if I may. And looking at the mounting down of CIS in 2026, if you could share some more details on the run rate and how it's sort of expected to progress and where we may be end of end of 2026 in terms of revenue are we all the way down to zero or is it only maybe halfway there and second question is associated also to this trying to trickle out the underlying cost base for the call it group other item or overhead line items here so if you could share any any guidance or thoughts on the underlying costs for the Securitas business excluding CIS. That would be very much helpful.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

Thank you. If we'll start then with the government business within SEIS closed down, as I mentioned earlier as well, we have started to see some impact in the fourth quarter from the closed down on the top line, but it's not much. But you should expect to see an accelerated impact the first six months from the closed down activities. And then if you look at your question there, where will it be at the end of 2026? We expect that most of it will for surely be done. The vast majority will be done by the end of 2026. So I hope that helps a little bit by understanding how we expect this to progress throughout the year. When it comes to other in our segment reporting, three components, as you know, our African Middle East and Asia business, we have our SEIS business and we have the group cost. The Africa, Middle East and Asia business continued to deliver strongly in the quarter, comparing them to last year. The SEIS business was fairly stable when you look at the bottom line. And then on the group cost, it was higher than last year. And here we've been running tight cost control throughout the year. In the fourth quarter, we released some more project investments in the quarter. and that's the main reason and then some year-end reconciliation but that's the main reason compared to last year to understand the trend there I would also very much look at the full year number.

speaker
Victor Lindeberg
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay that's very clear and another question on the topic you have brought up Magnus in the CEO letter this quarter you mentioned the run rate is about or at least one billion US dollars or looking at the SES and recurring revenues and I recall you mentioned 18 months ago a run rate of 1.25 billion per month so just to understand are we talking apples to apples here or what why the mentioning or maybe confusion from my side here.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Thanks Victor no we're just keen also on highlighting that we have quite a significant number I mean we are clearly above that one billion but we will share a lot more detail in the capital markets day in June because this is an important focus area also in terms of building a more scalable business.

speaker
Victor Lindeberg
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay so it has not deteriorated over the past 18 months that's what you're saying?

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

No, we have seen growth in the business since then.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Johan Eliasson from SB1 Markets.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Please go ahead. Yes, good morning, Magnus and Andreas.

speaker
Johan Eliasson
Analyst, SB1 Markets

I just had a bit of a detailed follow-up to Andreas. You mentioned that in 2026, you expect some 225 to 250 in items affecting comparability. Is that sort of including this 1% of revenue you are sort of reviewing right now, or could there be some one-offs on top of this from this review? Thank you.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

Relevant question. The number that I mentioned is excluding any impact from strategic assessments, which obviously then could be both a positive or a negative number, so to say. So excluding that just for clarity.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Okay, excellent. Many thanks. The next question comes from Nicole Manion from UBS. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning.

speaker
Nicole Manion
Analyst, UBS

Just one quick follow-up question from me, please, on the security services margin. Obviously, that's now up more than 100 bits over the past couple of years. Just wondering if you can give us a sense of how much of the improvement there you've seen this year, although over the last year is portfolio management versus what's coming from price increases or any other drivers. Are we pretty close to peak margins in this side of the business as you get to the end of the portfolio pruning? Or are there other levers you think you can look at as you move into next year? Thanks.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Thank you. A couple of different drivers, Nicole. When you're looking at that margin improvement, New sales margins have been consistently very healthy, and that's a good indication that we have a good offering. Clients see the value in that offering. Active portfolio management has also there contributed, but I would also say that we've also been working to also run the business, leveraging the new platforms that we've invested in in a more efficient way. So automation and also AI has also been helping us to also optimize how we run the operation. If you're looking at the services margin on a group level, I think that there is further opportunity to continuously improve that in the next couple of years. So I would not agree with the comment that this is kind of peak margin. We believe that driving the things that we have been driving, but also continuously strengthening the value proposition, we are in a good position to enhance the value essentially.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Great, thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the President and CEO, Magnus Ahlqvist, for any closing comments.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

Thanks a lot, everyone, for your interest and a special thank you to you, Andreas. Highly respected and appreciated colleague. I also think in the dialogue also with many of you have also been a really good asset. So just to say thank you, but obviously then looking ahead as well, we are now full speed in terms of the assessment and also seeing really good interest also for this position. We will come back on that matter, but most important today, I think, is just for me to also express our appreciation from the entire team. Thank you very much, Magnus.

speaker
Andreas
CFO and Executive Vice President

And thank you, everyone on the call as well, for a really good collaboration the last couple of years. Highly appreciated.

speaker
Magnus Ahlqvist
President and CEO

So I think with that, we wrap up the Q4 and 2025 presentation. Thanks a lot, everyone.

Disclaimer

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